| The ECHO Panelists |
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Denise Benson
DJ, radio host and journalist Denise Benson eats, sleeps and breathes music, and loves to share the pleasure. She’s been dropping beats, pieces and ideas since ‘87, hosting and programming the highly respected Mental Chatter on CKLN 88.1FM (1987 - August 2008), contributing to CBC Radio Two programs including Brave New Waves, RadioEscapade and RadioSonic, and becoming one of the city’s most celebrated and diverse club DJs. On the flip, Denise has worked as a freelance music journalist since 1995, writing for publications including Exclaim!, Xtra, Fuse, and Peace. Since mid-1999, she has contributed two club culture columns, Extended Play and DB’s Best Bets, to eye Weekly, becoming one of Toronto’s most looked-to sources of information about emerging new artists and trends in electronic and independent music. Denise was a panelist on the inaugural ECHO as well as the past three years. |
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Alan Cross
Alan Cross is the host of the radio series The Ongoing History of New Music and curator of ExploreMusic.com, a radio-and-web initiative dedicated to music discovery. Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, written four books, recorded audio books, contributed to magazines, writes a weekly national music column and hosts a weekly show on Aux-TV. This is Alan’s first year as a member of our panel. |
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Sue Carter Flinn
Sue Carter Flinn is Arts Editor for The Coast, Halifax's alt-weekly newspaper. She has been an ECHO panelist for the last three years |
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Grant Lawrence
Grant Lawrence is the host of various shows on CBC Radio 3, including his weekly podcast. He also host’s a live shift weekdays on Sirius, 6-9 p.m. Eastern, 3- 6 p.m. Pacific. Grant has been on the ECHO panel for the past three years. |
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Aubrey McInnis
Aubrey McInnis is a Calgary-based journalist and disc jockey who's been squeezing her way to the front row of gigs and chasing the real scoop on Canada's music scene since falling in love with Sloan's Smeared in the early '90s. Guided by a love for talking with people and learning their stories, Aubrey has written for various publications including Exclaim! and Fast Forward Weekly. Aubrey is the reviews editor for an Alberta monthly called BeatRoute Magazine. Every Monday night, she hosts and produces the cutting-edge new music show, Aubrey's Shindig! on CJSW 90.9 FM and cjsw.com. Aubrey has been a member of our panel for the past four years. |
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Joshua Ostroff
Joshua Ostroff is music editor of the newly-launched Spinner Canada. He first began writing about music as staff critic at the Ottawa Sun, though he's originally from a small British Columbia beach town, and now lives happily ever after in Toronto – where many of the people he interviews live super nearby. He's been a regular contributor to everything from the Globe & Mail and the Toronto Star to Exclaim! and eye Weekly, not to mention various and sundry glossy magazines. Joshua first decided to become a music journalist when teenage him spied some dude taking notes way back at Lollapalooza '92. Josh has been an ECHO panelist the last two years. |
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Ben Rayner
Ben Rayner has worked as one of the Toronto Star's music critics since 1998. He's passionate about Joy Division, The Simpsons, and the writings of Martin Amis. On the rare night he's actually at home, you're likely to find him hunched over his turntables mixing techno records for hours on end. This is Ben’s first year as a member of our panel.
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Dan Seligman
An ECHO original, having been a panelist for all five years, Dan Seligman was born on August 4, 1976, at 2:20 a.m. in Toronto. He has lived in Montreal for 11 years. He started a music festival called Pop Montreal with some friends six years ago, and now it's a runaway success. He used to manage his brother’s band Stars and then he managed The Unicorns. Seligman has continued his role as creative director for Pop Montreal while remaining firmly committed to working with emerging artists in Montreal and beyond. |
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Carl Wilson
Carl Wilson is an ECHO original, having been a panelist for all five years. His writing has appeared in The Globe and Mail, The New York Times, Pitchfork, Slate, Blender and many other places, including the annual Da Capo Best Music Writing anthology. He runs the popular music blog Zoilus.com, and his book about art, money, bad taste and Céline Dion, titled Let's Talk About Love, was published in the 33 1/3 series from Continuum Books in New York. He lives in Parkdale in Toronto. |
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Jill Wilson
Jill Wilson has been writing about and reviewing music in Winnipeg for 16 years. She’s currently the editor of The Tab, a weekly entertainment supplement in the Winnipeg Free Press, and a regular album reviewer for the paper. She was on the final jury for the inaugural Polaris Music Prize in 2006 and has been an ECHO panelist for the past four years.
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